Introducing Peyton Marie

We are all thrilled to announce the arrival of Peyton Marie Pinsonneault. Born on August 6th at 8:15pm, Big Brother and Big Sisters were eagerly awaiting her arrival. Look how proud they are…they just love her!

Peyton weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 inches long.
I am excited to say I made it to 38 weeks. Who would have guessed that!

34 Weeks

Wow, I guess it has been quite a while since I have updated this. A lot has happened since my last post. On Wednesday, June 24th I had another ultrasound. The doctor came into my room shortly after and said I could go home! I was quite surprised. I have been home ever since then. I am still on bed rest with bathroom and shower privileges but in the comforts of my own home. Since I have been home, I experienced regular contractions only once. The doctor instructed me to take an extra dose of my medication and wait it out for an hour to make sure they went away…and sure enough, they did.

I just had my second follow up appointment today. I am now 34 weeks along and everything checked out good. The doctor says my cervix is measuring at .5 centimeters and I am 2 centimeters dilated, which is not unusual for 34 weeks. I also had another ultrasound today (probably my last one). The baby weighed in at 4 pounds 14 ounces give or take 12 ounces. That is 1 pound more than 2 weeks ago. We could actually see chubbiness on her legs…we like chubby!!

They also confirmed my c-section is scheduled for Friday, August 14th @ 9:30am…that is, if I make it that far. At this point if I go into labor, they will not try to stop it…they will just do an emergency c-section.

Here is a picture of me that was taken yesterday. We have not posted any more ultrasound pictures, because they have not been very clear the past few times…it is hard to tell what you are looking at.

30 & 30

Today marks two milestones. Day 30 in the hospital for me, and, the 30 week mark of my pregnancy. I have been enjoying the fact that I can wear my own clothes. Sean is doing a great job of keeping me stocked up with clean clothes (like he doesn’t have enough to do between his visits and travels to and from the hospital). I forgot to mention last week that I finished all the granny squares for baby blanket number one. My mom continues working on putting them together, while I started a second baby blanket. If I am going to be here for the 60 more days that everyone is wishing for, I might just have to go into business making afghans.

The baby is making great progress as well. I had an ultrasound on Tuesday to check in on her and her growth. They say she weighs about 3-1/2 pounds now. I myself have gained 1 more pound since last week…which is ideal. The doctors like to see a gain of 1 pound per week…so looks like I can continue eating my sweets!

29 Weeks and Still Counting!

I made it yet another week. 29 weeks as of yesterday. Still feeling pretty great. I even earned two additional privileges…I can wear my own clothes (if I choose…and I DO choose) and I can go outside in a wheel chair. I still have yet to do the latter. I have been waiting for some day-time company on a nice day. But yesterday, out of curiosity, I asked the nurse how much time I am allowed to spend outside…and she said 15 minutes LOL. I thought to myself…is it really worth it? All that hassle for 15 minutes? I think I will just sit (I mean LAY) here as I have been doing…to be safe…and maybe that will buy me a few more weeks.

They say I will have another ultrasound next week to measure the baby’s growth. Speaking of growth…they brought a scale into my room the other day for weekly weigh-ins. I had not been weighed for 4 weeks and was very scared to step on it. I couldn’t imagine how many pounds I might have gained just laying in bed for 3 weeks. I was quite relieved after though, to know I only gained 3 pounds in 4 weeks. I guess that gives me justification to eat more sweets. My grandmother made me some of her famous chocolate chip cookies last weekend, which my Aunt Pam drove 3 hours to deliver to me. And Ashley and her mom spent an evening making whoopie pies and cookies! Did I mention chocolate chip cookies and whoopie pies are my weakness? LOVE them! THANK YOU!!

28 Weeks!!

Well, I made it another week. I am 28 weeks today! Day 16 in the hospital. Not much has changed since my last post. Still no contractions and no pain. They are talking about doing another ultrasound in two weeks to measure the baby’s growth…so they sound pretty positive about me being in here for a while longer.

I do miss the outside world though. I am missing out on Adam’s baseball season. Sean took some video of his last game for me. I laughed and cried at the same time watching it. I can’t believe how much Adam has improved this year.

I want to thank everyone for all the generous offers…house cleaning, yard work, taking care of kids, making meals, bringing stuff to keep me busy in here, etc… We are very appreciative of them all. The support has been truly amazing!

27 Weeks and Counting

I am 27 weeks now…and thankful for every additional day. Yesterday the doctor checked me and then sent me for an ultrasound. The results of both showed that my cervix has not changed since I was admitted last Wednesday. That means, whatever I am doing (or “not” doing), is working. Hopefully we can continue with that trend. Since I have not had any contractions since Friday morning they have cut back on my meds and moved me over into the Maternity wing. They continue monitor me and the baby for 30-60 minutes every shift, which is usually 3-4 times per day.

I can say that I have not yet been completely bored. Thank God for laptops and internet. I have also been working on a baby blanket each afternoon. My mom brought in the yarn and we are working on it together. If we continue at the rate we are going, we should have a finished blanket in about 2 weeks.

Day 7

Holly got a visit from my Aunt Denise who was visiting her latest Granddaughter Maya! Holly was able to see pictures of Baby Maya, since she really can't go visit.

I was able to bring Adam to see Holly tonight, he was quite excited to get some Mommy time. It didn't take him long to get himself snuggled in to her bed. They hah not seen each other for a few days, so they had some time to bond while I went to get the girls and watched Ashley's boxing practice. We all had dinner in the hospital (Luisa's), which according to Holly was amazing after hospital food.

Jay, Nancy, Drew and Ivy came to visit while we were all there. Giving us laughing reminders of what we haveto look forward too with another young baby!

She is going to kill me, but I had to post this!!!

Day 6 and 7

Day 6, wasn't much going on. Holly had contractions in the morning, but they went away. She spent all day listening for Jessica's lullaby playing for Maya being born. Monday as my first day back to working since Wednesday, so that was kind of tough. I had to reprimand Holly for not being logged in to facebook chat early enough to tell me what was going on LOL

I was able to go in and visit Holly and have dinner with her, and visited my cousin Jess and Ryan and Baby Maya with Heather and Shane. Brendan was being a very good big brother holding her.

Ashley had her "Step Up Concert" last night, this was a concert to showcase the 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th and 8th grade band, and the high school band. This allows the kids and parents to see how our kids progress. It really is amazing to me to think that Ashley is only 12 years old and they make such awesome music. I will try to attach a video or 2... Ashley has a parade on the 25th for Memorial Day, she is the only 7th grade line leader. It's usually reserved for 8th graders only, so I told her she should be proud because her teacher obviously has confidence in her. Her response to me was "...Or, I just got some of your bossiness?" HAHA, I couldn't even argue with that!

So far today on Day 7, the Doctor told Holly that they are still going to go with the current plan since it seems to be working...

Day 5 #2

I forgot to mention last night that Jess Dubois brought Holly some beautiful flowers, and brought me a NADEAU'S sub!! She also played Holly in some Gin Rummy.

I spent today playing around with the new video camera, and I was able to go upstairs and get a tour of the NICU. I took a couple of short video clips to show Holly since she can't go on the tour herself. Then Ashley and Alysa came and spent about 4 hours with us. That was really nice to see them. They were both nervous about what was happening. They weren't sure what they were going to see. I think they left realizing that it was not as bad as they thought.

Deb brought me some amazing Pot Roast tonight! Chuck and Holly played a couple of games of cribbage. Now we are watching the finale of Survivor.

If you have noticed, there isn't much in here about Holly. That is a good thing, today was just a normal day (besides being in the hospital and bedrest LOL). No unusual contractions and all the monitoring was good.

I was able to do a test video to see how difficult it was to upload, so I will try that now...

Day 5

So, this morning is day 5 of being in the hospital. Thankfully things are still quiet on the baby front. No more contractions, and the DR came in this morning to tell her that they were going to spread out her meds for contractions again. They also gave her permission to take a shower every day, for now, simple things like that are huge at this stage.

I know that I am feeling much better after talking with the NICU doctor. At 26 weeks there is an 80% survival rate. So, we are looking for the next goal of 28 weeks where it goes up to 90%. The nurses here have been really nice, with a couple of strange birds added in. The one we have this morning is bringing me a CD of Miles Davis tomorrow!

2 Updates in 1 day?

Holly has been doing well, no major contractions today. This mornings nurse asked if NICU had come to see us yet, and they had not. So, we had a visit with the Neonatologist (sp?) this afternoon which was great to get the real scoop from a Doctor. Basically she gave us the rundown of the complications we can expect with a 26 week baby. Our next goal is at least 28 weeks, and then at least 30...etc. I am hoping to get a tour of NICU sometime soon, but they got bombarded last night with premies.

On a much lighter note. Ashley and I played our first concert together, it was pretty awesome. I will never forget that. She also just called me with her progress report and she is getting all A's and B's and a C in French. Adam had his baseball game today and he went 3 for 3 with an RBI LOL

Update 2

(I don't proof read until after I publish, which then drives me nuts with my grammatical errors, but since I hate writing it's not going to change. So, sorry for misspellings and weird sentences.)

Well, as you can imagine, it's been a little more stress here. However, thankfully it's been somewhat boring, which is exactly what we are hoping for. I told her that I would prefer the baby to be like my steak, medium-well, to well-done. Neither one of are really "happy" about being here for the duration of the pregnancy, but I know I am relieved that she is in here. I would be really worried if we were home.

Yesterday she woke me up after having contractions for a little while with "You might want to get up, I am having contractions and they are getting worse...". That worked better than any alarm I have ever heard, well, with the small exception of artillery simulators haha. The doctor came in and checked her and she was not dialated, which was great news. Particularly since this was the first time her contractions were ones she was really feeling uncomfortable with. They decided to up her dosage to stop the contractions and that seemed to work well. So far she has not had any more contractions.

We had a couple of visitors throughout the day. Evelyn came over with her 2 boys, so gave me someone to play with while they talked "pregnancy" stuff. And then my sister, Heather, came and brought Holly a bunch of movies.

Yesterday was Holly's last day of work for a long time, she was working from the bed transitioning all her work to other people. So, now she will be out on a leave of absence from work.

We have been hearing that they have changed the NICU unit around, so I am hoping to at least get a tour of that area. We would love not to have to use them at all, but I don't think there is much chance of that happening. Since I have never been up there, I am curious to get some info and start doing some research on the subject.

We also decided to start brainstorming on names. I would really like another "A" name to go along with the other 3, but we looked at every A name we could find and none of them jumped out at us as all. After looking at so many names I have decided that I now like her choice the best. SHHHH, Don't tell her, I am still torturing her saying that I hate it. Neither one of us were really ready for this to be so soon, so the name picking took on some urgency.

So, right now, she is a day further than she was with Adam, and there is nothing urgent happening (thankfully) and we are just starting to get a little bored. So, those are actually positive signs and we are taking it one day at a time.

I ruined Holly's father's day gift to me by shopping for Flip Video camera's last night. Apparently she was going to buy one for me, so instead I bought it last night. So, when Pam comes today I will run out and pick it up!! I should be able to take some video and upload it into this blog as well. Although there isn't much to see here right now. At least it will give me a new toy to play with!

Now, on to some serious stuff...they need to figure out a way to get some type of a bed in here for me LOL This sorry excuse for a couch is horrible!! I'm just kidding, I really don't care.

Baby P Update - From Dad

Ok, it's been a stressful couple of days. Thankfully things have calmed down, so I have time to decompress and give out some details.

Yesterday we went to a scheduled Ultra-sound hoping to get some good 3D pics of Baby P. During the ultrasound they checked her cervix to make sure that everything was OK. Well, the Dr. said that her cervix is now 7MM thick, rather than the 30MM thick it was 3 weeks ago. Also, her cervical stitch had pulled through and was no longer doing it's job. So, we were told we had to immediately leave and head to the hospital where she was going to have to stay for the duration off the pregnancy. The concern is that they don't know how quickly her cervix has made this change. So, there was concern that the baby could be coming very soon.

We checked into the hospital into a Labor and Delivery room and they monitored the baby and her and come to find out she was having a couple of contractions. So, they are giving her medicine to stop the contractions. They also gave her first of 2 shots of steroids to help speed up the baby's lung development, just in case.

Deb came over and was able to stay with Holly while I went to get some essentials for us to stay in the hospital...things like our laptops and toothbrushs. Holly didn't have a very good sleep last night, but they were waking her up every couple of hours to do a non-stress test and see if she was having contractions. Plus the meds could possibly have had something to do with the lack of sleep as well...

This morning she has already had her breakfast, and is now already working on her laptop. Things have thankfully calmed down quite a bit, now the big stress is coming up with a name that we both like!!

On a lighter note, we did get some great ultrasound pics of Baby P, and she looks just like Adam with a Pinsonneault nose!

Biking at NHMS

Last night we took the kids to NH Motor Speedway to ride their bikes. They all had a wonderful time. Adam was very excited to ride his bike on the same track that Jeff Gordon races on. Of course, now he wants to do this every day! But I told him he might just have to settle for once a year.

(Alysa crossing the finish line)

(Adam and Ashley after their first time around)

Family Vacation 2009

This year we spent our family vacation in Maryland at Assateague Island. We were camping in style thanks to the wonderful accommodations provided by Mom and Dad P. Monday was spent recovering from the 9-hour car ride down (over night). It was very hot. The kids were able to spend some time in the water and then clean off the salt in refreshing cold showers.

(Ashley and her friend Sophie)

On Tuesday, we ventured over to Ocean City boardwalk for lunch, ice cream, arcades and shopping. When we returned to the camp ground we had dinner than celebrated my birthday. Mom P and the kids made a delicious ice cream cake.

On Wednesday the weather cooled down quite a bit. We visited Chincoteague (the other side of the island...in VA) to check out the wildlife. Back at the camp ground the kids flew kites and rode bikes. We also witnessed a pony fight…2 stallions fighting over a herd right in front of our campsite.

On Thursday, we watched three deer from our campsite all day. I would say they were within 50 feet of us the whole time. Sean even came up close and personal with them while taking pictures.

The last day was beautiful…not too hot, not too cold. We spent it at the campsite relaxing, packing and dreading that 9-hour trek home that evening. All in all, we had a wonderful time. Thanks Mom and Dad P for letting us take over your home for a few days. Enjoy the rest of your stay and see you in June!

Fun in the Sun - April 25th

Adam and Alysa enjoying the sprinkler on this super hot April day. It was 92 degrees.

23 Weeks

I had another ultrasound appointment yesterday. Everything is still checking out okay. I was cleared to go to Assateague Island with the family next week…YAY!! We are all very excited.

We learned that little Baby P (yes…still nameless) now weighs just over 1 pound. Her heart was beating at 150 beats per minute, and she appears to be healthy. I had the ultrasound technician check one more time to see if we are still having a girl, and we are (sorry Adam). We were in the room with the old ultrasound machine again, so the pictures were not that great. We were able to get a profile picture.

Now for me…I am still wondering where the other 18 pounds are. I don’t feel as if I have grown anywhere but in my belly…but 18 pounds??? YIKES! Maybe next week while we are on vacation, we will capture a few pregnancy pictures. The doctor wants to see me back in 3 weeks. That will be the 26-week mark for me. I am very anxious for that appointment, as that is as far as I got with Adam. Hopefully this stitch is doing what it is intended to do. I am hoping to get at least get through the rest of the school year and Adam’s Little League season.

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice!

Yep…that’s right! Last week we found out we are going to have a little girl. Picture it now…a little “Mini-ME” running around! The kids all hoped for a little brother, but they are still excited just the same. Adam in particular has been making extra efforts to take care of mom…just the other night he massaged my feet and rubbed my belly for a while. It was too cute. I can’t wait to see his reaction when she starts to kick.

As of this appointment she weighs 9 oz. Her heartbeat was 153 beats per second and she is quite active. She flipped several times just during the ultrasound. As for me, I checked out okay too! So far, the stitch is doing exactly what it should be.

From Sean...

I hate blogging, I really don't have anything interesting to say. However, that being said, I have been asked a few times what I would prefer, boy or girl. So, here is the answer. I realize it sounds like the "politically correct" thing to say, but I really don't care what sex the baby is. I truly only care about a healthy baby, and a healthy mom.

So, with that said, here are my thoughts about either a boy or a girl. Let's face it, our family dynamic would be "convenient" if it were a boy. Two boys, and two girls, would fit well. With the added benefit of carrying on the "Pinsonneault" name, since our line of it ends with me right now. But, the selfish part of me thinks that I have already raised two girls, I know how to deal with them. I would be extremely nervous about a boy and diapers...and add the stress of deciding about circumcision.

So, bottom line, stem on the apple or not? This dad doesn't care, he's just looking forward to meeting the latest "P". I really can't wait to take a nap on the couch with a baby in my arms again! I can't wait to see the girls and Adam interract with the baby, while it's "fun" with them. They are so good with their little cousins, I hope it carries over to their sibling a little. ;-)

Cast your Votes!!

Okay, I know many of you have your guesses...some have shared...some have not. Only 8 days until we find out if this little one is a boy or a girl! I can't wait...I'm just a need-to-know kind of gal. So I thought it would be fun to add a Poll to our blog to see collectively what everyone thinks. So get your votes in before 2pm on March 25th!! I am excited to see what everyone else is thinking, because I, personally, have NO idea what we will be blessed with. I have just been focusing my thoughts on keeping this one inside me for more than 26 weeks...preferably full term this time!!

Baby P

Here’s what is going on with our next little one. I will be 18 weeks along this Thursday. It certainly has been an interesting road this time around…far different then the first. So far, I have put on about 10 to 12 pounds (yikes). I only put on 12 pounds total with Adam…and that was at 26 weeks. The nausea finally went away about 5 to 6 weeks ago, however since then I have been experiencing the worst heartburn I have ever felt… all day every day. A friend of mine told me that heartburn means the baby will have lots of hair. I wonder if that will be true. I do remember that I experienced NO heartburn with Adam and he didn’t get hair until after he was 1 year old! There has been no shortage of doctors visits and ultrasounds either. I am seeing two doctors. They each see me once a month, so it works out that I am there every two weeks.
My last visit was on Thursday (3/12). The baby's heartbeat was 153 beats per minute.

Here are a few ultrasound pictures taken so far.

This one was taken at 13 weeks:


These two were taken at 15 weeks (3D ultrasound):

We are all very anxious for our next appointment, which is next week. Hopefully, the little one will cooperate with us, so we will be able to see ALL of it's anatomy. Don't worry...we will definitely share!

About Ashley (2009)

Age – 12
Height – 4’ 11
Grade – 7

Favorite Color – lime green
Favorite Food – chicken
Favorite Snack/Treat – Baked Lays Sour Cream & Onion chips
Favorite Book – Twilight Series
Favorite TV Show – Charmed
Favorite Movie – Twilight
Favorite Song – Too many to list
Favorite Sport(s) to play – Boxing
Favorite Sport(s) to watch – None
Favorite Thing to do – Watch TV
Favorite Toy – Nintendo DS
Favorite Game – Not sure
Favorite Place to go for Vacation – Florida
What do you want to be went you grow up – Veterinarian

About Adam (2009)

Age – 8
Height – 50.5 inches
Grade – 1

Favorite Color – Yellow
Favorite Food – Pot roast
Favorite Snack/Treat – Whoopie pies
Favorite Book – Spiderman 3
Favorite TV Show – Suite Life of Zach and Cody
Favorite Movie – Spiderman 3
Favorite Song – It’s Been a While (Staind)
Favorite Sport(s) to play – Baseball
Favorite Sport(s) to watch – NASCAR
Favorite Thing to do – Go boating
Favorite Toy – Black Spiderman figurine
Favorite Game – Garbage
Favorite Place to go for Vacation – Florida
What do you want to be went you grow up – Own a flooring store (like Dad)

About Alysa (2009)

Age – 7
Height – 49.5 inches
Grade – 1

Favorite Color – Navy Blue
Favorite Food – Macaroni and Cheese
Favorite Snack/Treat – Hot Tamales
Favorite Book – Everyone Poops (not sure where this one came from!)
Favorite TV Show – Hannah Montana
Favorite Movie – Mama Mia
Favorite Song – Not sure
Favorite Sport(s) to play – Dance
Favorite Sport(s) to watch – Football
Favorite Thing to do – Watch TV
Favorite Toy – Phone
Favorite Game – Old Maid
Favorite Place to go for Vacation – Florida
What do you want to be went you grow up – Teacher

About the Kids

I wanted to give the kids each an opportunity to tell you about themselves…however, from experience, it’s hard to get much out of them unless you ask specific questions. My mom told me once about a friend of hers who created a survey for her kids. She would bring out the same survey year after year and record the results. It’s a fun way to see how much your child changes from year to year. I have decided to create my own survey of “favorites” for our kids. My goal is to also repeat the survey year after year and post it in this blog with their school pictures. The kids really enjoyed taking the survey, so hopefully I remember to continue this tradition (thankfully, blogs have archives!)

Welcome

Facebook seems to be increasingly popular these days, but I think blogging is following the same trend. After seeing what blogging has to offer, I thought…what a great way to share our stories and pictures with our family and friends. I mean, with three kids and one more on the way, we definitely have plenty to share! Last night I shared with Sean the blog of one of my co-workers. I told him I thought it would be neat to do something like that for our family…and wouldn’t you know, not even 30 seconds later, he was setting one up for me (isn’t he great?). I don’t think I would have known where to begin, especially after spending hours this morning trying to figure out how to customize it. I finally gave up on trying to change the template to one I found on the internet, but I was able to figure out how to add music. So you when visiting our blog, you will hear some of our favorite songs.

I hope to add a few more posts over the next couple of days, so stay tuned!